


Two Solitudes That Meet

by coffeeandchocolate



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 03:19:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17378609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeeandchocolate/pseuds/coffeeandchocolate
Summary: Moments between Dick and Artemis.





	Two Solitudes That Meet

**Author's Note:**

> A response to a Tumblr prompt.

Artemis preferred dark eyes.

There was no deep philosophical or psychological reason for this preference. It wasn’t as if she had a hard and fast rule about it when it came to the people she dated. It was just a simple matter of having always found light coloured eyes less aesthetically pleasing. It was a pattern she was simultaneously aware of and had little enough reason to think about – much less question – until one day, in the awkward time between night and dawn, after she and Nightwing had stumbled into the latter’s Blüdhaven apartment, too tired to even walk straight, much less for Artemis make it back to Gotham.

Artemis collapsed onto the sofa. Nightwing headed for the kitchen, instead, returning quickly with a first aid kit. He sat down on the armrest closest to her feet and gestured at her. She looked up at him without comprehension, fighting to keep her eyes open.

“What’re you…?” she mumbled. “Not hurt.”

“Come on,” he said. “We should wrap your ankle, I saw that twist.”

“It’s not bad,” she protested halfheartedly. He smiled a bit, leaning over to pat her on the shoulder.

“Better safe than sorry. I’ll do it for you, but I’m gonna need you to move a bit.”

His shoulders were slumped, and she could see the tension in his face and back as he tried not to let the fatigue come through. For that reason alone, she grumbled as she sat up and stretched out her leg, but refrained from actually complaining.

Even exhausted, Nightwing was efficient. He wrapped her ankle quickly and just snugly enough, then closed the kit and set it aside, apparently deeming the kitchen too far a walk to make right then. Only then did he pull off his mask. He met Artemis’s gaze and smiled, the tension draining away. She started.

She’d known, of course, that Dick’s very blue eyes were ones she trusted. After all, she’d known him for years now, in all forms of his identity. But when she imagined them, what she always saw was a mischievous gleam and dancing lights, bright and excited and so full of life that even looking at them was draining, made her feel ten years older. Right then, in the dim light of his apartment, fixed on her, they seemed more muted – tired and serious, fond and gentle. Right then, they seemed almost impossibly safe.

Dick looked away first, shifting from the armrest to the sofa itself, Artemis moving her feet obligingly to give him room. They stayed there for a while without speaking, the silence companionable rather than awkward, until Dick shifted to look back at her, and the moment passed.

“So, you hungry?” he asked, breaking the silence. “I have…”

He paused and made a face. “Actually, since I think if I try to cook right now, I will collapse in the kitchen, I have a few raw eggs, some hot sauce, and cereal.”

Artemis huffed out something approximating a laugh. Her eyes started drifting closed again, and this time, she didn’t bother trying to fight it. “Tomorrow, Bird Boy.”

He made a noise of wordless agreement and stretched out, knees hooking over the armrest and head resting on Artemis’s hip. The last thing she thought before sleep took over was that it had been the best night she’d had in months.

* * *

Even after Stanford and Star City, long after she’d lived elsewhere, Gotham was still Artemis’s home. Standing on top of Wayne Tower and looking down at the city she’d grown up in, she wondered how she could have ever managed to delude herself into thinking she could ever walk away from this place for long.

She didn’t have either her bow or her sword with her. She wasn’t in costume. If someone caught her up here, they’d almost certainly complain about her trespassing. But what could she do? It was the best view in the city.

She wrapped her jacket more tightly around herself. The night wind was biting this high up and her ears had already gone a little numb, but she couldn’t bring herself to move away from the edge, much less to lower ground. The distant roar of city life in her ears, the streetlights and headlamps and movement…she couldn’t look away.

Gotham City. No place like it.

In the end, it was a voice, coming from the doorway into the building, that broke her out of her reverie. “Hey, stranger.”

The voice was so familiar, she didn’t even flinch. Instead, she smiled to herself, and waited for its owner to come up behind her. “Hey, Dick.”

“Good to see you’re back in town. It’s been a while.”

“Not that long,” she said, and twisted so that she could look up – had he gotten taller again? – at him. “You know I can never stay gone for long.”

He smiled. It lit up his entire face. “I know the feeling.”

He brought his hands to her shoulders, rubbing her arms up and down a bit to warm her up. “Have you been up here for a while?”

She said, “Not that long.”

It was stretching the truth, and Dick knew her well enough to know that, but he didn’t call her out on it, instead opting to ask, “Long enough to get hungry?”

“Why, have a place in mind?”

He wrapped an arm around her and guided her towards the stairwell. “Your pick – tomato bisque in a bread bowl made by a certain god amongst butlers at the same table as the Batman, Robin, and Black Bat? Or… _bo kho_ at a lovely little establishment just outside the Narrows that’s open late, never too crowded, and home to the best Vietnamese this side of the Pacific?”

Her mouth watered. She leaned into his side a bit, unable to resist the warm solidity. “Mmmm. As tempting as the soup and hanging out with Cass sounds…”

“You’d rather just hang out with your favourite bat?” he teased. He tightened his arm around her briefly. “Vietnamese it is.”

* * *

For all the bird imagery, Dick had always seemed more feline than avian to Artemis. Yes, he soared through the air with elegance that could best be described as flight, but there was a strength behind the movements, a casual grace that reminded her of nothing more than a cat. Watching him sparring with Bruce in the Batcave made warm smugness rise in her chest, because she’d been _right,_ and it was clearer here than it had ever been.

Bruce was fast. For a man his size, he was almost _unbelievably_ fast. Dick was still faster.

It wasn’t just speed. As fast as Dick was, he was a couple inches shorter and considerably slimmer than his adoptive father. Even a lucky hit from Bruce would be dangerous. Dick’s blows had to be both hard and accurate to end the round before that – and Artemis knew from experience just how much of both of those things they were.

Dick ducked under a kick, twisted away from a punch – Artemis winced sympathetically as the punch glanced off his ribs – got close enough to slam his elbow into Bruce’s solar plexus, driving him back a step.

They kept going, forward and backwards, twirling around. It was viciously beautiful, and Artemis couldn’t look away.

Finally, Dick did a back handspring to avoid Bruce’s knee. His foot caught Bruce under the chin, knocking the older man off balance. Within seconds, Dick had him pinned. “Yield?”

Bruce grumbled, but conceded, “Yield.”

They both got up and moved off the mats. Dick was limping a little. Artemis made sure to file away which leg.

“I have a meeting,” Bruce said, wiping at his face with a towel. “I’ll be back in time for patrol. Okay here?”

“ _Yes,_ ” Dick said, shooing him towards the stairs. “Just go.”

Bruce didn’t. Or at least, not immediately. Instead, he looked over at Artemis. She tensed automatically in anticipation of criticism, but it didn’t come. Nor did a smile. Instead, he just nodded at her. “Artemis.”

She nodded back. He was gone in seconds.

One of these days, she was _going_ to learn how Bruce Wayne could, while wearing sweats, give off the impression of a cape billowing behind him. Too bad it wasn’t this one.

“Up for a round?” Dick said, leaning against a table to catch his breath. Artemis tilted her head to one side and surveyed him.

How had this even _happened_? How had she gone from just another wannabe vigilante – one who’d only been accepted onto the team because Batman had felt sorry for her – to someone welcome in the freaking _Batcave_? To someone that called Nightwing her best friend?

She had no clue.

She didn’t know, but what she _did_ know was that she couldn’t be luckier.

“I am if you are,” she said, jumping to her feet and stretching out a bit, grinning to herself. Dick’s eyes gleamed.

“I always am.”

* * *

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and Artemis had just woken up to coffee, waffles, and one of her top four favourite people in the world.

“What the hell are you doing in my apartment?” she asked as she sat down at the kitchen table. She wrapped her hands around the mug in front of her, brought it close to her face, and inhaled deeply. “Also – marry me.”

Dick grinned at her and took a sip from his own mug. It wasn’t enough to hide his smile. “Maybe later.”

“You gonna answer the _what are you doing here_ question?” Artemis asked, eyes narrowing. Dick looked very pleased with himself. Suspicious behaviour if she had ever seen it.

“Right. Finish eating, then go get ready. We have to go to Metropolis.”

She blinked. “Um…why?”

“You know how you said that one time that even Gotham doesn’t have enough crime to sustain how many vigilantes it has? Well, Clark is off planet this week, so I volunteered our services for the weekend. And since we need an excuse for being there, Bruce got us tickets for the Meteors Knights game. And the Metropolis ballet tomorrow. Fun, right?”

Artemis shook her head in disbelief and drained her coffee, unable to hold back her laugh entirely. “Have I told you recently that you’re ridiculous?”

“Maybe,” Dick said. “But you love me anyway.”

“Yeah,” Artemis admitted. “I guess I do.”


End file.
